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Seri verbs: multiple complexities

Seri 动词：多重复杂性

基本信息

批准号：
AH/P002471/1
负责人：
Matthew Baerman
金额：
$ 48.86万
依托单位：
University of Surrey
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2017 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FP002471%2F1
关键词：
Seri verbs multiple complexities

项目摘要

Many languages show seemingly arbitrary elaboration of their inflection. For example, most English nouns can take a plural ending, but it is not the same for every noun: compare bird-s, ox-en, and phenomen-a. Exactly which one to use is an additional fact that must be learnt and remembered. In this case that might not seem all that great a task, but there are languages which far outstrip English, adding an extra layer of seemingly gratuitous complexity to the already considerable machinery that languages employ for the expression of meaning. Within a general theory of language, such morphological complexity is rather the elephant in the room: it is far from clear what it's doing there, and why it is taking up so much space. One of the most extreme examples of inflectional variation - the most extreme, we would argue - comes from Seri, a language isolate spoken by approximately 900 people on the Sonoran coast in Mexico. According to the best information we have there are over 500 inflection classes for the paradigm used to mark subject and event number (i.e. whether the verb subject is singular or plural, and whether the action occurs once or multiple times). This dwarfs anything we are aware of in any other language - for the sake of comparison, note that this is seven times the number of classes that French has, a language well known for the complexity of its verbal system. This makes the Seri verb system something of a nec plus ultra of morphological complexity: crack this, and the puzzle is cracked once and for all.Note that the complexity of this system involves far more than can be conveyed by a mere enumeration of the number of endings or the number of classes. First, unlike e.g. English, there is no clear division between regular and irregular verbs: irregularity pervades the entire system, so that it is hard to make even an educated guess as to what the forms of a given verb would be. A second complicating factor comes way forms are distributed in the paradigm, which prevents us from assign a fixed function to the morphological formatives, and adds to the set of facts the learner must acquire. Nevertheless, the system is not chaotic, and follows a strict morphological hierarchy. Whether this hierarchy reflects aspects of meaning or is morphologically autonomous is a question of considerable theoretical and typological interest, as we are not aware of parallel examples from other languages. A third complicating factor is meaning. Verbs mark subject number, which is a relatively familiar notion, but also event number. What this actually means remains far from clear. Cross-linguistically, number can be a property of events in a variety of ways, from simple quantification to inherent characteristics of the verbal meaning . What it means in a given instance depends partly on verb meaning and partly on the situation being described. Given how little we currently know about the semantic and syntactic principles underlying the system, it could be that at least some portion of the morphological complexity can be traced back to as yet unrecognized aspects of meaning or function. These data provide us with two major research opportunities. First, the morphology of verbal paradigms - in its proliferation of classes, in its unpredictability, and in the variable functionality of its forms - has attained a degree of complexity with few parallels in the languages of the world. Second, the meanings and functions subsumed under the rubric 'event number' represent a category which is the subject of lively ongoing research cross-linguistically, and whose status within a general theory of grammatical systems is still being defined. We will work directly with speakers of Seri in Mexico, using various techniques of elicitation to help explain the morphological, semantic and syntactic factors behind this unique system.

许多语言似乎都表现出对其屈折变化的任意修饰。例如，大多数英语名词都可以用复数结尾，但并不是每个名词都这样：比较bird-s， ox-en和phenomena。究竟使用哪一种是必须学习和记住的额外事实。在这种情况下，这似乎不是一项伟大的任务，但有些语言远远超过英语，给语言用来表达意义的已经相当可观的机制增加了一层看似不必要的复杂性。在一般的语言理论中，这种形态的复杂性就像是房间里的大象：我们远不清楚它在那里做什么，以及为什么它占据了这么多的空间。屈折变化最极端的例子之一——我们认为是最极端的——来自塞里语，这是一种墨西哥索诺兰海岸大约900人使用的孤立语言。根据我们掌握的最佳信息，用于标记主语和事件数（即动词主语是单数还是复数，动作是发生一次还是多次）的范式有500多个屈折变化类。这使我们所知的任何其他语言都相形见绌——为了便于比较，请注意，这是法语班级数量的七倍，法语是一门以其语言系统的复杂性而闻名的语言。这使得Seri动词系统成为形态复杂性的极致：破解这个，这个谜题就一劳永逸地解开了。请注意，这个系统的复杂性远远超出了仅仅列举结尾或类的数量所能传达的内容。首先，与英语不同的是，英语中规则动词和不规则动词之间没有明确的区分：整个英语系统中都充斥着不规则动词，因此很难对给定动词的形式做出有根据的猜测。第二个复杂的因素是形式在范式中的分布方式，这使我们无法为形态构筑物分配固定的功能，并增加了学习者必须获得的事实集。然而，这个系统不是混乱的，并遵循严格的形态层次。这种层次结构是否反映了意义的各个方面，或者在形态上是自主的，这是一个相当有理论和类型学意义的问题，因为我们不知道其他语言中有类似的例子。第三个复杂因素是意义。动词标记主语数，这是一个比较熟悉的概念，但也标记事件数。这到底意味着什么还远不清楚。从跨语言的角度来看，从简单的量化到言语意义的固有特征，数字可以通过多种方式成为事件的属性。它在特定情况下的意思部分取决于动词的意思，部分取决于所描述的情况。鉴于我们目前对该系统的语义和句法原理所知甚少，至少有一部分形态复杂性可以追溯到尚未被认识的意义或功能方面。这些数据为我们提供了两个主要的研究机会。首先，语言范式的形态——在其类别的扩散、其不可预测性和其形式的可变功能方面——已经达到了一定程度的复杂性，这在世界上的语言中几乎没有可比性。其次，在“事件数”的标题下包含的意义和功能代表了一个正在进行的跨语言研究的主题，其在语法系统一般理论中的地位仍在确定中。我们将直接与墨西哥的斯里语使用者合作，使用各种启发技术来帮助解释这一独特系统背后的形态学、语义和句法因素。